`of that lesson (:

today, i had a really helpful Discipleship lesson, and I thought I would share it here cause I'm sure it'd help some of you readers out there.

today's topic was.....FORGIVENESS.

Started off with the song ; Thank You Jesus.
for you readers, take the time to just sing this song or maybe just thank Him for all the many things (:

Take a look at this :
Matthew 19:21-35 (NLT)
Parable of the Unforgiving Debtor
"Then Peter came to him and asked, "Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?

"No, not seven times," Jesus replied,"but seventy times seven!"

"Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. He couldn't pay, so his master ordered that he be sold - along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned - to pay the debt. "But the man fell down before his master and begged him, 'Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.' Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.

"But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. "His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. 'Be patient with me, and I will pay it,' he pleaded. But his creditor wouldn't wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.

"When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, 'You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn't you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?' Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.

"That's what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart."

Doesn't this Scripture passage scream the truth? Many times, we may have pleaded for forgiveness, confessed and repented with God, but then, we refuse to forgive others. How then can God forgive us if we refuse to do the same to others?

Look at these two passages of Scripture ;
James 2:12-13
"So whatever you say or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law that sets you free. There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you."

Ephesians 4:31-32
Get rid of all bitterness, anger, rage, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

Don't these passages just get to you? They get to me. It really reminds me of the importance of forgiving, as much as I may dislike doing it.

Forgiving, doesn't necessarily come with forgetting. God forgives, but He doesn't forget, because He knows EVERYTHING. Forgiving is a smarter thing to do, than to let your anger eat you, cause if you do, you are letting Satan have a foothold on you. so DON'T let him. If you give Satan an inch ; he'll want to be the ruler.

I think this message really appealed to me. And I think God is trying to tell me something. `Cause this message couldn't have been preached at this time, this day, by a COINCIDENCE. No way. God's timing is perfect. Amen to that! (:

We prayed at the end, praying to forgive those that we have anger etc. against (i think this was it).

I've decided, that as hard as it is to forgive those that have wronged me, I will do it. I know what is right, and I don't want to continue to live in sin of anger and hatred toward the few that won't matter in a whole lifetime of pleasures. A whole lifetime of happiness that I can experience. And an eternity of happiness with God AFTER I do what He wants me to. I want to put a smile on God's face ; that is what I want now. And I'll strive for it, no matter what it takes.

Pleasing God won't be easy, it'll be a narrow, curved, scary, persecuted road, but it'll be worth it in the end. Trust me (:

There are so many things that God has commanded us to do, which, is so hard for us, imperfect and sinful creatures, to do. Like ;
1) Love your ENEMIES
2) Forgive one another *some do keep grudges*
3) Don't covet another person's stuff *well, if u covet another person's iTouch etc, i guess that's wrong*

And those are just a few. There are so many. It's so hard. In man's eyes, like, love your ENEMIES. For us at times, or maybe just other people, it's like, they are called your ENEMY cause you hate them but you have to love them? Like where's the sense in that? BUT, God loves EVERYONE the same. He loves Christians, non-christians, adult, child ; EVERYONE. He loves the sinners, He loves the ones that know His commandments, He loves those that fall asleep in church, He loves those that slander about one another. We have sinned against Him before. But He LOVES us. Then, shouldn't we love those who have wronged us?

Think about this.

Doing what's right may never seem to be the logical thing to do. It may not agree with your feelings ; your wants. But then, IF and WHEN it agrees with God's Word, there's no denying that THAT is the right thing to do.


-kimbo- =)